After a 7 AM wake up for GG, Nancy and myself we lounged around waiting for the rest to appear from their dens around 9 AM. The rain was beating on the tin roof which made for everyone to be in no hurry in arising except for GG. While she is normally up at 6 daily she did sleep in until 7 each day despite how late we stayed up the night before. We had her upstairs with the child proof gate closed so she had to call down to us when she wanted to head down stairs. She did really well on the stairs despite how steep they were.
We each ate our breakfasts on our own with cantaloupe, cereal and toast being the choice of many and of course coffee and tea after Nancy and I did our abbreviated quiet times. GG sat and read a book that Nancy had picked up at the local library, so she wanted to finish it before leaving on Sunday; of course there was nothing else to do with the rain falling in heavy squalls at times. We decided to head down off the mountain after a lite lunch which was brought on by another strong downpour that kept us from leaving around 11. It was raining so hard we couldn't leave so the next best thing was to have a lite lunch of grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches before heading out.
We traveled up the parkway( the first time ever for Errol) towards Virginia and then down towards Mt. Airy on 89. The views were awesome and the evidence of the heavy rains were everywhere with the muddy creeks and high waters. We made our first stop at the overlook at Fox Hunters Paradise where many photos where taken during a brief interlude from the rain; afterwards it was on to Dobson and the Shelton Vineyards and winery. The fields of corn, soybeans and hay were so lush and green as we approached the vineyards which is just off I-77. We took the tour and while it was nice to have the sun out and shining on your face the humidity was evident with temps into the middle 80's. We sampled some excellent fruit of the vine and made a few purchases before heading back towards the Galax area.
The trip up Fancy Gap was awesome with the views and of the climb that had truckers at a crawl up the steep grade. We stopped at an antique emporium in Galax for about an hour where Arianne made and awesome find of a metronome for 10 bucks and a old book nearly a hundred years old for next to nothing. We all had a grand time as we checked out the merchandise and got some good ideas for the antiques we possess at the cabin. We laughed and cut up until it was time to made a grocery stop at Wal-Mart for chickens for beer in the rear on Saturday and some rabbit food(salad). We wanted to check out a vineyard and winery in the Galax area that Bobby and Jill visited last summer that was on the way back to the cabin. Mt. Vale Vineyards and tasting room albeit while relatively new had a magnificent setting with great distant views. It was close to closing time but we were received warmly by the attendant, Mary Simmons who turned out to be the vintner for the winery. She also grows some of the different varieties of grapes at her farm in Arat, Va. which is good for certain varieties of grapes that grow best at lower altitudes. She was most knowledgeable in her profession and very cordial despite it being closing time. We left while another heavy rain storm was approaching and headed on back to the cabin. I almost forgot to mention I filled up at $2.88 a gallon in Galax.
Well when we arrived back home the sun was out and it looked as if our neighbor Gerald had scrapped the gullies caused by the heavy water run off, out of our private gravel road. He had been away all week on business and we have been checking on his chickens which did alright during all of this rain. Many thanks to him and his tractor. It was good to see some sunshine on what's left of my vegetable gardens. The flowers are blooming and what hasn't washed away looks great but it wasn't long afterwards the rain began to fall once more, so no smores tonight.
